RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘American Idol’ Hits Some High Notes

American Idol increased its ratings range last night. The last show before next week’s Season 11 finale saw Idol (4.8/14) up 7% from last week. The two-hour Top 3 performance show garnered 17.3 million viewers, a 5% rise compared with last week and its best since March 28. Meanwhile, CBS’ two-hour season finale of Criminal Minds (3.5/10) was up 21% over last week and up 6% on last year’s one-hour finale. It was the series’ best adult 18-49 rating since January 25. Fox won the night in the demo and total viewers, up over nearest rival CBS by 78% in 18-49 and 66% in overall viewers.

On ABC at 8 PM, The Middle (1.9/6) was even with last week. NBC’s Betty White’s Off Their Rockers (1.4/5) was down 7% at 8 PM but up 7% (1.5/5) at 8:30, a 10-week high for NBC in the time slot and, with 5.4 million viewers, an 18-week viewer high. A Mike & Molly (1.1/4) repeat was the same as last week for CBS. The 8:30 PM Rules of Engagement (1.1/3) was also a repeat. The finale of Suburgatory (1.8/6) slumped to a season low, down 14% from last week. Modern Family (3.9/11) was also down; the ABC show fell 11% to a season low. The CW’s America’s Top Model (0.5/1) was up a tenth from last week.

A repeat of Law & Order: SVU (0.8/2) at 9 PM was followed by an original Law & Order: SVU (1.7/5) at 10. The original was down 6% from last week. Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23 was down 13% in its 9:30 PM slot, a tie for its series low. In the 10 PM slot on ABC, Revenge (2.0/5) was down 9%.